Two months late, Florida lawmakers approve state budget, ‘turned their back on the public…

From left, Sens. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Anitere Flores, R-Miami, talk during the commentary portion on the budget bill at the end of the Legislature’s special session on Friday. (Source: Tampa Bay Times)

From The Tampa Bay Times: Environmentalists wanted the state to buy land owned by U.S. Sugar south of Lake Okeechobee to store and refresh water that flows to the Everglades, and they are likely to sue the Legislature as soon as next week.

“They’ve turned their back on the public while they’ve had their hands out to Big Sugar,” said Mary Barley, president of the Everglades Trust. “We must hold our elected officials accountable.”

The three-week special session ended just before 7 p.m. [last night] in an unusually quiet Capitol, seven weeks after a regular session collapsed in chaos in a Republican family feud over health care. That prompted Scott to issue doomsday warnings of a possible government shutdown, which lawmakers avoided by passing a budget less than two weeks before the end of the fiscal year.

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